Super Bowl 2016

Audi - Commander

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The Mill collaborated with Venables, Bell & Partners and Director Craig Gillespie from MJZ on ‘Commander’, Audi’s intergalactic Super Bowl 50 commercial. The Mill were tasked with creating a simulation of the launch pad of an Apollo mission in addition to extensive day-to-night sky replacements, an animated UI screen and the creation of a surreal night sky-scape to evoke the feeling of driving on a lunar surface.

2D Lead Artist Gareth Parr says, ”Green screen photography was shot of the astronauts walking on the Apollo launch gantry to board their capsule within an amazing ‘60s-style set. We did extensive research into the Apollo to accurately portray the view from the launch pad through matte painting and adding an old filmic look. It was great fun watching launch footage from various missions.”

A challenge faced was that the capsule on set was a Mercury command module, which therefore had to be replaced with an Apollo command module. To help achieve this, the artists tended to small, key details like preserving existing features such as the outwardly swung hatch.